Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Mr. Arroyo had in fact been serving as an informal envoy for OFWs even prior to his appointment by the President, accounced during her state visit to Japan earlier this week.
Bunye also reiterated over the state-owned Radyo ng Bayan the position of Malacañang on the appointment of Mr. Arroyo as OFW special envoy.
He said the appointment stressed the President’s personal concern and the administration’s program to look after the welfare of OFWs.
"The title is secondary only. And I think, with or without the title, the First Gentleman would continue with his good work and sincere desire to help our countrymen in other countries," Bunye said.
Bunye, however, clarified the President has not signed any appointment designating Mr. Arroyo as special representative for OFWs.
He said Palace legal advisers are still studying the legal aspect of the appointment.
Notwithstanding the absence of any formal appointment, Bunye said the First Gentleman took the initiative in helping out some of the less fortunate OFWs in Japan during the state visit.
"The following day he went to assist a Filipina who was jailed in Japan because she has a court custody battle with her live-in partner, a Thai national," Bunye said.
The Filipina was 33-year old Maria Cristina Salvador, an "overstaying alien" jailed since April at the Tokyo Immigration Bureau.
Japanese immigration authorities uncovered her overstaying status when her Thai hubby tipped them off, apparently to get even when Salvador filed a complaint against him and sought custody of their child.
Salvador sought the help of the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo where her case got the attention of Mr. Arroyo, who initially gave the woman $2,000 out of his own pocket to pay for legal services.
Bunye stressed Mr. Arroyo has been "working in the background" even before the controversial appointment was announced.
"This demonstrates the concern not only of our President but also by the First Gentleman to help our countrymen working abroad and if some take badly this assistance to our OFWs, perhaps, the best judge here would be our own OFWs," Bunye said.
"The millions of overseas Filipinos, being the most affected, will have the final say on Mike Arroyo’s appointment," said Migrante secretary general Poe Gratela.
Gratela reiterated the only reason Mrs. Arroyo appointed her husband as special envoy for OFWs is to prepare the groundwork for her reelection bid for the 2004 presidential elections.
He said the appointment of Mr. Arroyo is a step towards tapping the OFW vote which comprises a huge political bloc with the imminent passage of the Absentee Voting Bill.
Despite overwhelming criticisms, the President stood firm on her decision, emphasizing her personal concern for the welfare of the OFWs.
Gratela, however, said Mr. Arroyo should prove his mettle. "What does he know of the plight of millions of OFWs abroad," he said.
For starters, OFWs in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Taiwan have experienced wage cuts, Gratela said.
He said Migrante has also documented the numerous mysterious deaths of OFWs, with four to six coming home in coffins almost everyday.
He also noted that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) reported 1,377 OFWs complaining of maltreatment; 847 escaped from abusive employers and 165 have been forced into prostitution.
"For Mr. Arroyo to be effective, he has to effect changes in his wife’s labor policies. The problem is we cannot expect him to question his wife’s policies," Gratela said.
The appointment has drawn mixed reactions from various sectors while opposition and administration lawmakers are still divided over the issue.
Critics led by Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. and former education secretary Raul Roco claimed the appointment of Mr. Arroyo was unconstitutional.
Guingona said the appointment smacks of a political ploy while Roco pointed out Article VII, Section 13 of the Constitution expressly prohibits the appointment of spouses and relatives to any position in the government.
Administration Rep. Prospero Pichay (Lakas, Surigao del Sur), however, took exception to Roco’s claims.
He said Roco was apparently ignorant of the law in pointing out the constitutional prohibition.
"It is good that this early, the Filipino people learn how ignorant Mr. Raul Roco is of our fundamental law," Pichay said. "This is because the very provision of the Constitution cited by Mr. Roco very clearly reveals that the position of special envoy to OFWs was not included in the enumeration of government offices to which the President’s spouse and relatives may not be appointed."
Pichay slammed Roco for including the appointment of Mr. Arroyo in the constitutional prohibition.
"(There) is an accepted principle in law which means what is not included in the enumeration is deemed excluded," he said.
At the same time, the Mindanao legislator slammed political critics of the President in claiming the appointment was in preparation for the 2004 national polls.
Pichay said the appointment of Mr. Arroyo was merely to facilitate easier access of OFWs to the President in addressing their concerns.
He agreed with opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel who earlier said the appointment would benefit more than seven million OFWs scattered all over the world.
"Let us look at the brighter side of this," Pichay said. "Mr. Arroyo’s appointment as special envoy shows genuine concern of the President for the welfare of seven million OFWs. And it is customary for the President to appoint as special envoy those people who are close at heart." – With Romel Bagares